“Isn’t it glorious to know that no matter how unjust something may be, even when it seems to have come from Satan himself, by the time it reaches us it is God’s will for us and will ultimately work to our good?” (1)
How would your life change if you assumed everything that happened to you was God’s will for you?
Everything?
Yes, everything!
It’s a question that gives me long pause and few words.
Anytime someone glibly says, “It is God’s will” in the face of tragedy or disaster, I cringe.
When bad things happen, questions flood my heart:
Would God?
Could God?
Did God?
Why God?
If it was God’s will and He would, could, and did, how would your life change?
I’d turn to God.
I’d cry out to Him?
I’d stand with Habakkuk and wait for God to answer me. (See Habakkuk 1:1-2:4)
I’d cling to these scriptures:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son”
“We know that for those who love God all things work together for good.”
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (2)
On the other hand, how would your life change if you assumed everything that happened to you was NOT God’s will for you?
In the center of the circle of the will of God I stand:
There can come no second causes, all must come from His dear hand.
God is Love, and God is faithful, so in perfect Peace I rest. (1)
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Reimann, Jim; Cowman, L. B. E. (2008-09-02). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (p. 311). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
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The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Psalm 23:4, John 3:16, Romans 8:28, and Romans 8:38-39.
Bread Crumbs - Devotions for Life 
This is something that I wrestle with almost daily. When you have done your best and life is still filled with disappointments, it is then I am tempted to doubt.
I guess to be in that place really isn’t too unusual. How else can our faith be tried? I am sure that Abraham and Sarah were at that place as they watched youth ebb away. Whatever God’s answer to us at the point of our testing we know that it is good. Oh for faith to trust Him more.
Dan, the opening quote struck me as unusual. It led me to ask the question I asked immediately afterwards and the converse of the same question just before the last quote. I thought a long time about leaving the question hanging out there, hoping people would ponder it more deeply. However, I realized that I needed to bear witness to my response to the question. I have quit trying to figure out God’s will and the details of His plan. The four scriptures I quoted provide me with all the details I really need. My response may be too simplistic for some, but for me they are held in faith only through taking a long deep journey with God and the world.
Rus
I guess sometimes that all we can do is trust Him because for the time being understanding is beyond us. Even though God is not the originator of the evil, He can and does work it for His purposes in our lives.
The differences between the two opposing outlooks posed by your questions, for me anyway, is the difference between quietly resting in Him, and frantic hopelessness. I am ashamed to say that often my outlook is the latter of the two.